Rank the Brubaker/ Phillips books

Topic

I recently bought a used set of Kill or Be Killed #1-20 on eBay. I’ve been reading through it the last couple of days, and it’s brilliant. A little twisted, but a dark supernatural take on the vigilante genre that’s right up my street.

The funny thing, though, is that I deliberately chose not to buy it when it came out originally.

I have read their work since Sleeper #1 way back when, and beforehand if you count Scene of the Crime, which I did buy as it was published.

But, The Fade Out broke me. I actively disliked that series, and so I wasn’t ready to pick up KoBK after that. Which, in hindsight, I’m now kicking myself for.

Anyways, that got me thinking. In their extensive back catalogue, how do you rank their books? And, why?

For me, the list looks like this:

1) Fatale – the dark Lovecraftian tone of this series, blended with femme fatale noir made for a delicious and potent mix.

2) Sleeper – I’m a big Wildstorm fanboy, and this was a brilliant “grown up” take on that universe. As with Fatale, I’m also a sucker for the genre mash up.

3) Criminal – I love the big, wide, open world canvas of this series. And, the epic Lawless saga has been riveting to read as it unfolds.

4) Kill or Be Killed would fit here, I think (based on the few issues that I have read so far).

5) Scene of the Crime – probably more to do with it being my first exposure to Brubaker’s work than anything else; but also the likeable main character and the eerie cult setting. I always hoped for a sequel to this.

6) Reckless – I liked vol 1, and look forward to more. Another likeable protagonist, and a story hook with lots of storytelling potential.

7) Incognito – this felt too dark and unpleasant at the time, and I remain disappointed with how it ended so inconclusively.

8) The Fade Out – not a fan of the setting, the characters are all douchebags, and it just left me feeling like I had wasted my time & money on it. I realise though that I’m in the minority on this.

I’ve left out their Batman, Hawkman, and Gotham Noir issues. Primarily for their brevity, but also because they have faded from my memory over time.

I haven’t read Pulp yet.

Replies

I haven’t read any of these but I love this already because it basically works like a ranking system for me to know in what order to get to it.

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Will_C, Vikram

Be interesting to see other points of view. Despite my own feelings re: Fade Out, I don’t think there’s a bad book or series in that list. They’re a fantastic creative team.

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Will_C

On The Fade Out, it is intended as a homage to noir and in noir? Everyone is an arsehole.  So, I get not liking it, but I also think it is very deliberate.

My initial ranking:

1 – Criminal – No contest, this is a damn masterpiece on so many levels and one I hope they keep returning to when they feel the need to.

2 – The Fade Out – Really liked the evoking of the era.

3 – Sleeper – Superhero noir espionage? OK, yeah, why not?

4 – Fatale – One of the clever aspects is how this jumps through time.

5 – Kill Or Be Killed – Starts strong but fades over time.

6 – Incognito / Scene of the Crime – Can’t recall the story for either so….

 

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Chris-S, Will_C, Vikram

[Will_C]

Kill or Be Killed – Their darkest, most thrilling and psychologically complex work. Probably Phillips’ best outing.

Criminal – I always ranked this lower–not because it was bad just because their other stuff was even better–but the last three arcs have really elevated it. It’s now as much a drama about working class hardships and aging and cycles of violence as it is pulpy noir.

Sleeper – Holden Carver is their best character, the espionage plot is nerve-wracking and full of depth, the mix of superheroes & spies is just right.

Pulp – An ex-cowboy outlaw turned pulp writer teams up with a Jewish former Pinkerton agent to battle Nazis in 1930s NYC, what’s not to love?

The Fade Out – Love a murky Hollywood murder mystery.

Reckless – Still early days for this one but I already love the character and his world as much as anything they’ve done.

Fatale – Good just not as good as their other stuff.

Incognito – The only thing they’ve done that approaches badness. It’s decent enough but feels a little phoned in and doesn’t do enough to distinguish itself from Sleeper. I do really like the thick inks on Phillips’s artwork, though.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Will_C.

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Chris-S, Sean Robinson, Vikram

Great thread option. I definitely can’t give an opinion tonight, and make no promises in the future (confusing in the good way).
But how great is it that I can say something like that?

Honestly ashamed to admit I can’t remember why I dropped Criminal so long ago.
Distracted when I moved, and when I changed stores? believe this to be true.
Just assumed I could buy the HC later.

But why no re-issue on the first Criminal Deluxe HC?
How nice of Amazon.ca to offer another sellers used copy (from Turkey!) for $529.12 CDN.
Although I wouldn’t complain if it came with a ’40-pounder’ of Gin (1.14 litres – look that up), an automatic handgun w/ a box of ammo, and an 8-ball of Coke.
Now that I’ve typed I think I would order x2 at least.
Fuck, how fast can they get here?

Have re-introduced a friend to this.
But now he’s not just relying on me for gifts, wants to start buying the HC’s on his own.
He just bought Pulp and told me he loves it the most (both our collections have gaps).
No point arguing a point like that, can only find more to challenge.

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Will_C, Vikram

Sean Robinson wrote:

But why no re-issue on the first Criminal Deluxe HC?

Reissues of the first two deluxe HCs are coming soon, so I’d hold off paying silly prices.

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Will_C, Sean Robinson

this would feel a bit like ranking my kids…..

But Kill or Be Killed is my favourite, followed by Criminal.

I love all their books though.

They really are the best of this generation as a creative team and they’ll be talked about with the sort of reverence reserved for the likes of Kirby in the decades to come

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Rocket, Dave, Todd, Vikram, Will_C

Chris-S wrote:

this would feel a bit like ranking my kids…..

But Kill or Be Killed is my favourite, followed by Criminal.

I love all their books though.

They really are the best of this generation as a creative team and they’ll be talked about with the sort of reverence reserved for the likes of Kirby in the decades to come

This is pretty much where I am on it.

I think Criminal will ultimately go down as their masterwork, and I thought that the recent Cruel Summer was a fantastic culmination of that. But at the same time it’s a sprawling collection of stories that makes it difficult to point to as their single best work when other projects are more focused and contained.

I liked Kill Or Be Killed a lot and I think it might be Sean Phillips’ best artwork. Some of those full pages with text down the side are beautiful big illustrations.

I remember loving Fatale at the time and finding it a welcome change in tone. I haven’t reread it for a while but I should.

Pulp I thought was great and felt like a slightly more confident move into the OGN format after Junkies, which they’ve obviously now solidified with the first Reckless book which I thought was a strong start.

Their Gotham Noir story is lots of fun and a really good take on that kind of elseworlds story. You can see their partnership coming together and growing and it’s worth a look just for that. Same with their Hawkman and Batman issues which are well worth a read. And Scene Of The Crime, which isn’t quite a ‘pure’ Brubaker-Phillips collaboration but is definitely where you can see the seeds of that Criminal style first being sewn.

I’m also a bigger fan of Incognito than most – there’s some interesting subtext in there about Brubaker becoming disillusioned with superhero stuff and moving on from his Marvel work, but even on a surface reading it’s a fun romp with some neat fourth-wall-breaking moments and techniques.

Fade-Out and Sleeper are probably my less favoured projects, but they’re still not bad and probably deserve some re-evaluation from me.

They’re all good comics.

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Chris-S, Vikram

Having just finished reading the first RECKLESS one-shot, that is currently my favorite Brubaker-Phillips book.

Of course, I also felt that way when I read PULP. And FATALE. And CRIMINAL….

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Chris-S, Sean Robinson, Will_C, Dave

Finished reading Kill or Be Killed. It was brilliant. I loved it. The whole is this real or a figment of his imagination was very well done, and being an obvious fan of the genre the allusions to the monthly superhero comic we’re fun too.

I loved the twists and turns of the final issue (#20) to bits. I think it’s one of my favourite finales of all time; although the final epilogue was maybe a little bit too much.

As much as I enjoyed the story, I think this is by a considerable margin Sean Phillips’ best work (although his painted art on Swimming In Blood remains my all time favourite). The landscapes, the city, the character work and action scenes were all superb. The scenes in the snow were particularly effective.

I’ll give special mention to Liz Breitweiser’s colours on this series. She added a lot to the tone and mood of the art. I miss her work on the more recent books.

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Will_C, njerry, Dave

Yeah, I think Kill Or Be Killed is great and I agree with you on the art. I also really like the playful tone of the writing – there’s a real sense of Brubaker letting the book lead him to where it wants to go.

It was only the second time around (in HC) that I really fell in love with it, and I think the arcs read better in larger chunks too. It was also only on a second reading that noticed so many Spider-Man allusions – some more subtle than others.

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Ben, Will_C, njerry

I don’t read a lot of comics these days.  I haven’t fallen out of love for the medium or anything like that.  It’s more a matter of time and money.  That said, I recently had a chance to plow through a pile of trades, which was a real joy.  Among the titles I read were Kirkman’s “Invincible” (fun, I see why it was adapted to television now), and Cliff Chiang’s Catwoman: Lonely City (which is excellent by the way).

The stuff that really stood out for me were some of Brubaker and Phillips more recent collaborations in particular the five Reckless books:  “Reckless”,  “Friend of the Devil”, “Destroy All Monsters”, “The Ghost in You “ and “Follow Me Down”.

Our hero, of sorts, is Ethan Reckless, is a surf bum and old movie buff who lives out of an abandoned theater in West Los Angeles.  He is also a guilt-ridden former undercover narc who was embedded in the the violent fringe of the Vietnam-era anti-war movement, survived a bomb blast, and was mustered out of the FBI for ‘going native’ – sympathizing too strongly with those he was spying on.  The bomb blast left him somewhat affectless, highly resistant to pain, and with almost no fear of violence.  He struggles to feel any emotion, save one – righteous anger, which more often than not, drives his choices when people ask him to help them solve problems they cannot take to the authorities.

As such, Reckless is a kind of spiritual descendant of John D. MacDonald’s Florida-based beach bum and reluctant ‘white knight’ Travis McGee, crossed with <span style=”color: #474747; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;”>Roger L. Simon’s Moses Wine (a former sixties radical turned P.I. who grows increasingly cynical and conservative as time passes), and </span>a touch of Thomas Pychon’s druggy P.I., Larry “Doc” Sportello “Inherent Vice” thrown in for good measure, mixed together in a way that makes him a sympathetic hero for burnt out survivors of the late sixties and early seventies (and thanks to the presence of his friend and assistant, Anna), the early punk rock generation.  (The stories published so far span the early seventies to early eighties – future installments will take these characters into the nineties.)

As ever, I love the narrative voice that Brubaker brings to his characters that carries the reader through the stories (which are told in first person, with Ethan Reckless – or, in one story so far, Anna).  And Sean Phillips work has never been better.  The locations are so well rendered (often beautifully, in a meditative way) it’s hard to believe Phillips (and his son James, who serves as colorist) has never lived in Los Angeles.

There were also two stand-alone stories which stood out, the bleak, “My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies” (thought this story does take place in the “Criminal” universe) and  “Pulp” about an elderly old West bank-robber and gunfighter, who barely ecks out a living writing cheap pulp westerns in NYC in the late 1930’s, and finds himself compelled (for the best of reasons) to take on the archetypal ‘one last job’ – one that takes an interesting and even more dangerous turn than expected.

All seven books come highly recommended.

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Sean Robinson, njerry, Martin Smith, Dave, Todd

Good news for latecomers to the Brubaker/Phillips fan club: Image Comics is currently releasing new editions of trade paperbacks of previous books. Due on shelves next week are CRIMINAL VOL 1 (Coward) and CRIMINAL VOL 2 (Lawless), as well as a KILL OR BE KILLED Compendium collecting the entire series. And CRIMINAL VOL 3 is expected for release a week later (Feb. 19)

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Dave

I still have a copy of Criminal #1 signed by Brubaker. He also wrote on it “Fuck you, Todd”. John Layman got the issue for me.

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Sean Robinson

The Knives: A Criminal Book – Sept. 9th

HC – 200 pgs.

THE FIRST NEW CRIMINAL BOOK IN FIVE YEARS!

With the Prime Video adaptation premiering soon, crime comic grandmasters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips return to their most acclaimed series with a new standalone graphic novel: The Knives.

A sprawling Criminal epic, The Knives is the most ambitious tale Brubaker and Phillips have ever tackled. Three dark journeys wind around each other over a decade, like sharks hunting for a kill.

Cartoonist Jacob Kurtz goes to Hollywood in the era of peak TV to work on an adaptation of his comic strip, only to find himself caught up in the life of his aging aunt and the vultures circling her estate. Angie was raised at the Undertow, but now everything she loves has been taken from her. She’s on the streets with vengeance on her mind, her eyes set on the city’s kingpin. And finally, Tracy Lawless is home from the Special Forces, finally a civilian again, but he’s in bad shape and this city has always brought out the worst in him.

These three tales collide in The Knives a breathtaking noir story about greed, ambition, heartbreak, and blood ties. A must-have for all Brubaker and Phillips fans!

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Todd, njerry